Category: Economic Mess

Debt is out of control. Bankers have run for cover. Credit is super tight and the economy is barely moving.

How does your family get ahead?

With the economy slipping and the employment situation stuck in neutral, you have to be smart about your family. If you have a job today, you must be putting away a percentage of your after-tax income.

20% of your after tax income with each paycheck should be going to emergency savings until you have 15 to 18 months of expenses in your emergency savings. However, that may be a giant stretch for you in the beginning.

We have already entered the deleveraging era. Big and small businesses are moving to push off debt. Households are going into foreclosure. People are cutting expenses by route of stopping payments and more.

If you don’t have a plan to save regularly, let us help you.

Start with our “1% Savings Plan.”

How does it work?

The next time you get paid, multiply your after-tax paycheck by 1%. That’s X .01.

Almost anyone can afford to save 1%.

Take that amount of money and let that be the first thing you spend money on with this paycheck. Put that 1% of your after tax paycheck in actual savings. Then, the next time you get paid multiply your after tax paycheck by .02. Put that amount in savings. Each time you get paid after that, add another .01. The third time you get paid after you begin this plan, you will take 3% of your after-tax pay and put it in savings before you do anything else with your pay. Continue to do this until you reach .20.

Next you want to put your family at the kitchen table and review your spending over the last six months. Be honest with yourself about money you spend on bills and on spending that you could do without. Make it your family goal to reduce your spending going forward by 12 – 15%. Involve everyone in brainstorming how you can do it.

After that, you will want to see past blog entries here and our other blog at www.BoostMyWealth.Wordpress.com relating to reducing your bills. We show you how you can look at every bill you receive at your house and work with the companies to reduce the expense of those bills while being open about their suggestions on bundling or service reductions that allow you to save 10 – 15% of what you spend on bills. But when you save 10 – 15%, put that amount in savings (and make it the first “bill” you pay every single month. If you make it a bill, you will have steady savings. Between this and the “1% Savings Plan,” your family can really begin putting away money for emergencies – like losing a job or about 100 other things that can get between your family and the economy.

You – and your family – can do this!

YOU CAN CHOOSE

You can choose to take specific and steady actions to change your life, change the lives of your children and change the future of your family tree. Yes, you have the power yourself.
All the corporations, the private equity companies, crooked politicians and rich people can’t stop you if you really have a systematic plan that starts with regular savings and steady investment along with your regular bills.

If you are willing to take the time with your family to make a plan for reducing and then eliminating debt over time, you can gain more control over your finances and you can teach your children how to become wealthy over time.

If you are willing to make people work for the money you spend with them, you can build savings and then wealth.

These things are within your reach. You just have to start and you have to be encouraged.

You can join our free Facebook group (or have your children do it, too) by searching in the Facebook bar on your “wall” for “Live The Lifestyle Your Family Deserves.” Click on “become a fan.” It’s free and it ties our free blogs into that group.

If you want to give your children the same information we are giving ours, you can purchase the only thing we sell on any of our blogs or groups. It’s called “How To Survive Any Financial Crisis” and you can get it for only $4.95 at www.middleclassmoney.com.